I’m Still Here at Venice Film Festival

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The subject and the star: Joaquin Phoenix, left, being filmed by Casey AffleckMatt Sayles/AP

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Joaquin Phoenix in I'm Still Here

Kevin Maher

Last updated at 1:51PM, September 6 2010

Casey Affleck’s documentary of Joaquin Phoenix’s alleged foray into rap is the buzz of Venice - but it’s beset by problems

It’s arguably the hottest ticket at the Venice Film Festival. It’s the movie
that answers the ongoing Tinseltown riddle, “Whatever happened to the career
of the two-time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix?”

It’s a documentary called I’m Still Here, it’s directed by
Phoenix’s brother-in-law, the actor Casey Affleck, and it is, much like the
bird’s-nest hair-do sported by the seemingly addled and bedraggled subject
throughout, a bit of a mess.

Beset by conceptual problems from all sides, the documentary claims to trace
the seven tumultuous months, from September 2008 to March 2009, during which
Phoenix abandoned the Hollywood stage in an